Tech

Tesla: deliveries plummet due to factory closures in China

Tesla said it delivered 254,695 vehicles in the second quarter of 2022, down about 18% from the previous quarter. This is the first time in two years that Tesla has announced lower figures.

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Credits: Tesla

After announcing record quarters for nearly 2 years, the American car manufacturer Tesla has just unveiled rather disappointing figures for its shipments in the second quarter of 2022. Indeed, the company said it delivered 254,695 vehicles in the second quarter, a decrease of almost 20% compared to the 310,048 vehicles of the previous quarter. Tesla said Model 3 and Model Y vehicles accounted for 238,533 of those deliveries, while 16,162 were for Model S and Model X vehicles.

Although Elon Musk recently declared that Tesla was on the verge of bankruptcy, the situation is not completely catastrophic for the company. Indeed, despite a decline in shipments from one quarter to the next, it is still a 26% increase year-over-year compared to the 201,250 vehicles delivered in the second quarter of 2021.

COVID-19 pandemic severely slows Tesla deliveries

The culprit behind the slowdown in Tesla vehicle shipments is none other than the COVID-19 pandemic, which is still raging in Asia. Indeed, Tesla was forced by the Chinese government to shut down its Shanghai factory several times in March and April due to rising COVID-19 cases. The facility then took some time to return to full capacity after reopening last May.

The closures of the Shanghai Gigafactory therefore cost Tesla very dearly, although it was recording production records in some of its factories. The main plant in Fremont, for example, has recorded its highest production figures in early June, setting a record for units built in a week. For its part, the Gigafactory Berlin in Germany managed to reach a production of 1,000 units in one week for the first time.

Despite these misadventures, Tesla is still expected to pass the one million vehicle shipment mark in 2022. As a reminder, in 2021, Tesla was not very far from the million. The company had announced that it had sold a total of 936,172 vehicles, which is still more than any of its competitors in the electric market.

Source : You’re here

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